Timeline of Sugaring Operations at MFFC

Compiled by Stephanie Breed, Visitor Center Coordinator

Executive Director Duncan Campbell expresses an interest in establishing an on-property sugaring operation. MFFC settles on an area by the White Creek, just off Old Town Road, due to the abundance of sugar maples on a south facing slope.

Student Conservation Association (SCA) assists with timber harvest and construction of the sugar house. The sugaring operation starts slowly with 150 taps on tubing and 350 taps on buckets.

Additions include a wood shed, canning room and tank storage shed. 3,000 taps yield 400 gallons. 16 cords of wood were needed. Horse-drawn wagons carry the finished syrup to the farm. Visitors are driven the two miles out to the sugar house by the horse-drawn

No tapping due to a pear thrip infestation (caused by a tiny insect that causes major leaf “tatter” and flower damage on sugar maples and orchard trees by feeding and laying eggs on the young leaves and flowers as the buds open in spring).

1999-00

Thanks to some generous donors, the sugarbush gets upgraded and doubles in size. Working with UVM’s Proctor Maple Research Center, lines downhill are pumped almost a mile to the holding tank, then gravity feeds to the sugar house. This increases the annual yield by 1,000 gallons.

MFFC Board of Directors decides to move the sugaring operation closer to the farm for easier public access. Construction begins on a new sugar house using MFFC harvested logs. Once again, SCA students help with the construction.

2002-2011

Sap is pumped up and over the mountain following Old Town Road for the 2-mile journey to the new Sap House.

2012

After logging and clearing the underbrush, 60 new acres of sugar woods off of Old Town Road in the vicinity of the farm and Sap House are up and running. A neighbor takes over the lease of the distant sugarbush.

2015

The Frank Hatch Sap House is dedicated to Frank Hatch, an original founder of MFFC and son-in-law of George Merck.

2017

MFFC’s original sugarhouse was reconfigured as a guest cabin: carpenter Ray Pratt and Merck staff and interns built two rooms and a loft, creating a new life for the building. When the renovations were complete, it was renamed “Dunc’s Place” in honor of Duncan Campbell. Instead of a place to produce liquid gold or to breathe in the sweet scent of boiling sap, it became a place to host the joyous laughter of family and friends and a place to create lasting memories for many years to come. Dunc’s Place was run first as a sugarhouse for 25 years and has since been a cabin for 21 years and counting. It may have a new face and name, but will always be a special place for all to enjoy.

Katie Connor, Visitor Center from 2018 Ridgeline

1,395 gallons of syrup is produced.

2019-21

Improvements are made to the Sap House infrastructure. Solar panels on the roof replace the propane generator that powers the reverse osmosis filter (RO).

2022

1,500 gallons of syrup is produced.